Karns City Area School District approved a new collective bargaining agreement with its support staff, made up of employees such as secretaries, paraprofessionals, maintenance personnel and cafeteria workers.

The five year agreement was approved at Karns City school board’s April 28 meeting. The current agreement was due to expire June 30.

The new bargaining agreement includes raising the entrance salary for support staff positions at Karns City. Salaries will increase by 3.6%, according to Eric Ritzert, Karns City’s superintendent. He said salaries in the new agreement are adjusted to be more market comparable to other school districts and similar jobs available.

“Both sides feel it’s a fair deal. We’re fortunate to have good employees and we always hope to keep them,” Ritzert said. “Part of that is being fair with salaries and benefits. We try to do this without being unfair.”

Ritzert said negotiations have lasted since around the new year.

“The labor negotiations have been fairly uneventful. We started in January, generally we try to have things resolved by around the time it would expire. Fortunately, we were able to do so,” Ritzert said.